This is the cronicle of the adventures on the yacht Maiken. I hope you all have a good time reading it, and maybe it will bring some new thoughts into your head.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Whales are beautiful

Neiafu 19.42 local time August 7 2006

A small glass of dark rum in my hand, sitting on deck, feeling content. The sea is completely calm, the moon is full and from the Mermaid over the water I hear "Go, go Johnny go". And we went. Been out all day looking for whales. Six of us on the boat except the guide and the helmsman. Only four allowed in the water at a time swimming with the Humpback whales. Although we've seen a lot of whales around earlier it wasn't all that easy to spot them today. There are about 700 Humpback whales here but the waters are vast! After an hour and an half we spotted a couple of whales. The boat took us some twenty meters from the whales and we went into the water and swam towards those mighty animals. The first times I caught only a glimpse. We left the first whales to them self after an hour, took lunch and did some good snorkeling in a cave. In the afternoon I came so close to the whales that I almost could have touched them. An impressing and humbling experience. But it's hard to say whether the whales mind. Today there were two boats out whale swimming. We took it really slow and careful and as long as this whale swimming is kept on a reasonable level I guess it's alright. The Humpbacks come here to mate and to give birth. They do not feed in these waters and spent five months without food from and to Antarctica. The mother is pregnant for 12 months and the whales live in average 40 to 45 years. According to our guide their song differs year from year. And the song depends on where they are going, Nuie or Tonga?There's a lot going on out there in the oceans.